


Sorrow and Betrayal

by Elaya



Series: Alternate Endings - New Beginnings [3]
Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Episode: s04e11 And the Trial of the One, F/M, Fix-It, The Plot Thickens, it's getting dramatic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25629841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elaya/pseuds/Elaya
Summary: The Librarians get hurled into a deadly trial and innocent lives are at stake. The big bad gets revealed and it's up to the heroes to act quickly to try and save the day.
Relationships: Cassandra Cillian/Jenkins | Galahad
Series: Alternate Endings - New Beginnings [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841416
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	Sorrow and Betrayal

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost and my take on the events during the Trial of the One. The episode in itself was actually great, but everyone who knows me also knows that I hated the finale with the fiery passion of a thousand burning suns and therefore had to fix things way before they started to get out of hand too much ;)

The young woman kept on running through the meadows at a steady pace. She couldn’t tell how she had gotten here, or why. It was still day, but one could not tell what time exactly. The grass was of a yellowish-green color, as if the sun had dried it out. The sky was overcast and the atmosphere was hazy. Was she running away from something or towards someone? Did she even remember her name? Everything was cloudy, in her mind just as much as in her surroundings.  
Suddenly she heard a voice, a dark, deep voice, pleading for help. This voice she could never forget. It belonged to the person, who was dearest to her in the whole world. Jenkins! Her knight, her love and the caretaker of the magic Library in which they both worked.   
“Cassandra, please, I am trapped and afraid, save my life, you must not let them get to me!” she heard the voice say.   
“Cassandra, Cassandra Cillian, Librarian, that’s me” the young woman thought to herself. “I’m here, I’m coming to help you Jenkins!” she called back to the voice “I won’t let anything happen to you my love, I promise!” She had to keep running, she had to save Jenkins.  
He was giving her instructions on how to help him. There would be two others, who would try to stop her and she would have to fight, maybe even kill them in order to save Jenkins. Cassandra would do everything for him, even if that meant taking the life of someone else, especially if these people were out there to hurt her beloved.   
In the distance she could see what looked like a small clearing, with several white pillars and multiple bundles of hay with what seemed like wooden boxes behind them. Somehow Cassandra instantly knew that she would have to face her opponents there and quickened her pace to make sure she arrived before them.   
She hid behind the hay bales and opened the box. There were multiple items she could use, if she only did the math right. Math was her specialty, as she remembered now too. So she made sure to use everything, the magnets, the wooden cart, which she turned into a catapult, even the hay bales. However, it didn’t hurt to have some real weapons either. That’s why she took some of the daggers as well as a crossbow. “Whatever it takes to save Jenkins.”  
When she spotted her rivals, Cassandra didn’t recognize them. They didn’t seem menacing at all. On the contrary, if she had met them on the street, she would have probably assumed they were nice young men, friendly looking. Yet they were a danger to Jenkins, which turned them into enemies, their motives didn’t matter to her at that moment.   
Each of them tried to outsmart the other. Daggers were flying, a small explosion, smoke. Among the pillars, Cassandra spotted a pole with a golden button on top. Jenkins had told her she had to press it to save him, but that she had to arrive there first. She grabbed her crossbow and ran towards it, but soon the two others caught up again, both of them had weapons as well. So they stood, facing one another, threatening, pointing their bows at each other’s faces. Cassandra was so afraid she had failed to complete her mission, failed to save her love. Would she be able to shoot both of the two men before one of them could kill her? She had to try.   
Weapons ready, none of them willing to give up, all three adversaries took a deep breath, when suddenly a tall, blonde woman appeared right in the middle of their small circle, raising her hands in a defensive manner.  
“Stop! Stone, Cassandra, Ezekiel, stop!” she shouted at them.   
It was then that they all remembered. They were Librarians, all three of them. They all cared about Jenkins, but they were friends, so why should they hurt each other?   
“The rings” Eve reminded them. The nightmare rings had conjured some terrible alternative worlds for them, in which they had all tortured one another, until they had come to the conclusion they were enemies. Now the rings came off and everyone shuddered at the thought of almost having killed their companions.   
“Only one Librarian can leave the Trial alive” Jenkins approached them. He was wearing a harness of some sort and a dagger was placed above his heart. Cassandra was shocked. She also sensed that something felt wrong – again. Jenkins had just recently gotten his body stolen by a guy named Jeff, who was completely harmless and even became a good friend to Jenkins and the Librarians. This here was different, Jenkins was not Jenkins, but it was far more dangerous than that. He was in his body still, but the voice talking to the others belonged to whom? The Library? “But why would the Library want two of us dead?” Cassandra thought. “The tethering! We failed to tether and now we have to face punishment, or Jenkins will be punished for us!”  
She helplessly looked at Eve, who tried to pull the harness from Jenkins’ chest. Eve was strong, but the harness did not move one bit.  
“Foolish Guardian” Jenkins pushed her away “the Harness of Mahakali cannot be broken.”  
“Then it should be me” Cassandra said immediately “I don’t want to live in a world without Jenkins.” She looked at Jacob “Shoot me”, she demanded.   
Ezekiel turned to Jacob as well, stating that Jenkins was a million times more worth than the thief. “I’m completely expendable” he said in an earnest voice “and you will make a great Librarian.”  
Jacob refused to shoot either of them, instead demanded they shoot him.   
Jenkins warned them that three dead Librarians were of no use to him.  
While they were still pushing the responsibility to one another, to be killed now, rather than killing anyone on their own, Eve approached Jenkins again.   
She asked him if the harness was an artifact of the Library, which would mean it would have been anchored into place by the First Book.   
“The First Book! Oh No!” Cassandra now remembered opening the scroll, made out of the first book of the Library and letting Jacob decipher it for her. That was what had brought them here in the first place, what almost made them kill each other, the reason why Jenkins was still in great danger now.   
It turned out Eve had grabbed the scroll, before taking off her nightmare ring and being transported to the place where they were all standing now. When Jenkins confirmed the harness being an artifact, she slid the scroll between the harness and the body of the caretaker, grabbed his arm and forcefully pulled him out of it. Both of them vanished from the meadow in front of the eyes of the three Librarians.   
A few seconds later Cassandra found herself back in the Library, Jacob and Ezekiel next to her. Eve and Jenkins were standing close to the back door. “You brought us all back, you wonderful woman, you brought us home!” Jenkins gifted Eve with one of his rare full smiles and pulled her into a hearty bear hug.   
Tears welled up in Eve’s eyes. “Oh, you’ll make me cry, I’m just a Guardian, just doing my job”  
“No, you are the Guardian, you are my Guardian, our Guardian!” Jenkins replied, full of emotion.  
When Cassandra approached the two and apologized for opening the scroll, Ezekiel told her not to worry about it anymore.  
To Eve’s question on what to do now, Jenkins answer was to move on to something better and brighter. Everyone could agree with him on this.   
They had all made it back to the Library unharmed and Cassandra was especially relieved to see the man she loved so very much smiling and happy, still holding on to Eve after their hug.  
Just as she rushed up to him, ready to throw herself into his arms for a hug of her own and a good dozen kisses or more, the back door was rattling to life.  
Everyone curiously looked at the door. All of them were inside, so who could that be? In the very next second, the door flew open and almost seemed to spit out the Harness of Mahakali, which immediately attached itself to Jenkins’ chest again. It was closely followed by the dagger, aimed for the open spot in the harness, right above the caretaker’s heart.   
That was the moment, when Eve Baird, the Guardian of Guardians, who was still holding onto Jenkins’ arm after hugging him, acted on her natural protective reflex. Being used to shield her subordinates from the time she had been in the NATO, Eve grabbed his arm and pushed him to the side as fast as she could.   
The dagger was a very fast object, so she didn’t manage to push Jenkins out of harm’s way completely, but at least she could avoid him being stabbed directly into the heart. Ironically, the thick leather of the harness now acted as a buffer, between the razor sharp blade and Jenkins’ skin. Still he cried out in pain, when the blade buried itself deep into his body, on the right side of his chest.   
Jacob immediately ran up to the injured caretaker and helped Eve to lift him up to the annex table.   
Ezekiel, who was the most skilled with his fingers, unclasped the harness behind Jenkins’ back and took it off, together with the dagger.   
Cassandra just stood there and stared at the whole scene with pure horror in her eyes. She held both hands to her chest and felt so much pain, as if she had been stabbed herself. This could not be happening. After all they had been through, just as she and Jenkins had finally found happiness with each other. They had made plans for their future, whether she stayed a Librarian or not. Should this really be the end? No, it could not be! She finally gathered her wits and frantically started to search the Library for something, anything useful, which could help the man she loved. Finally having found what she was looking for, she took the cloth and quickly threw it over him.   
When she saw the questioning eyes of the others, she explained “The Shroud of Lazarus has the ability to heal any wound.” But the eyes of the caretaker were still closed. “I hope” Cassandra startled, doubting her knowledge “Is it working? Jenkins, can you hear me?”   
Jenkins eyes popped open “Oh, hello” he said weakly and Cassandra let out a deep breath in relief. “I was wondering where I put that” Jenkins frowned when recognizing the cloth.   
“I found it while I was setting up for High Tea” the Librarian replied. Their afternoon together in the annex, High Tea, the treasure hunt for the letters, their first kiss…this day had happened only recently and now their future together was at stake.   
“Your cucumber sandwiches, Cassandra, good enough becoming mortal for” he smiled, but it was a weak smile.  
“You will have plenty of cucumber sandwiches” she told him, defiantly “I’ll make you so many until you get fed up with them.”   
“The Kiss of Mahakali is a magical wound, it cannot be healed, not even by the Shroud. Even if it didn’t hit my heart it will make me bleed out, only slower.” Jenkins’ voice was now a mere whisper “I may have been immortal, but you all brought me to life and knowing you has been the greatest pleasure in all my many years. Cassandra Cillian, your cucumber sandwiches were good enough to die for, even though I’d rather live for you, my love.” His eyelids fluttered and Cassandra could feel he was growing weaker by the second.   
“Now listen to me, Galahad Jenkins” she tried to stay firm, but her voice was breaking “I won’t let you get away from me that fast, not after it took me almost four and a half years to convince you that we belong together!” That made him open his eyes again. He tried to smile at her, but everyone could see that he was in great pain and it took him some effort to stay awake and not slip into unconsciousness.  
Ezekiel came running from the main Library with the nearly empty bottle of Bathsheba’s Healing Oil. He quickly opened the bottle, while leaning over the caretaker. A few drops dribbled into his mouth. Suddenly Jenkins opened his eyes again and took a deep breath. The Oil would not close the wound, it also couldn’t stop the bleeding, but at least it could stabilize him for a while longer, as everyone searched for a solution to save him.   
Jacob had been looking at Jenkins the whole time, he was mortified. He slammed his fist onto the table where he had been sitting on. “What can we do, man, we cannot just sit around and watch him die! What’s the use of having all these artifacts if there’s nothing among them to save him?” With these words he abruptly stood up and got out of the door.   
Everyone looked after him, taken aback how he could just leave like that. Ezekiel was the first to collect himself. “Do you want me to go after him?” he asked Eve, who just nodded and said “Yes, thank you, just make sure he is safe and if you can, try to make him calm down.” So Eve watched another one of her Librarians leave the annex. She hoped Ezekiel would manage to talk some sense into Jacob and bring him back soon.  
An anxious voice made her turn her attention to the annex table again: “Eve, can you please stay with Jenkins for a while? I will check the lab and the infirmary to see if we have any more Healing Oil, or anything else that could be used to make him feel better.”   
“Of course, Cass, I will be here with Jenkins, you just do what you have to.” Eve promised “you got this, Red” she tried to encourage the fearful Librarian. When she had pulled another chair to the annex table, she sat herself to the injured knight, who was not as pale as he had been before drinking the healing oil, but was still slipping in and out of conscious. “Listen here, Skippy” she began “you can’t be that easy to knock out, I’ve seen you take on enemies of human, unhuman and artifact kind without getting a scratch, much more dangerous than this puny dagger.”   
“You forget, Colonel, I wasn’t mortal back then” Jenkins tried to explain himself in a weak voice.  
“Ah, pipsy-posh as Flynn would say” Eve retorted “excuses, excuses, Skippy! You need to hang in there, Cassandra is relying on you getting better. You know she is hoping for some super romantic, sappy dates and you, Mister Grumpypants are really using every trick in the book to wriggle yourself out of that, huh?”  
After hearing Eve chiding him like that, Jenkins chuckled slightly, but immediately started coughing. “Colonel, please don’t make me laugh, it’s only tearing up the wound more and it hurts like hell!”  
“Sorry Jenkins” the Guardian tried to apologize “but, you see…”   
The back door rattled again and both heads turned to see if Ezekiel was returning to the annex and if he had managed to persuade Jacob to come back with him.   
But it was neither of the two young men. Instead a very smug and aggressive Nicole Noone stalked into the annex, wearing a tight, red evening dress.  
Eve instantly sensed something was wrong, so she jumped up from her chair and positioned herself protectively between Jenkins and the former Guardian.  
“Nicole, what are you doing here? Don’t tell me you have anything to do with this?” Eve inquired.  
“Oh, but it was me, it was all and always me” Nicole snarled back “And you actually helped me a great deal, Guardian. It was you who convinced Jenkins that I am oh so innocent and made him give me his immortality. Poor old Jenkins, this noble move turned out to be his demise.”   
“He is not dead!” Eve growled at Nicole.  
“Oh but he will be!” the sweetly hissed response came back “If it wasn’t for your interference he would be dead already, but it’s only a matter of time. There is no cure for the wound caused by this dagger, no matter what your amateur Librarians might try. Believe me, I have been a Guardian in this cursed place long enough, way longer than I intended to, thanks to your sweetheart, Flynn Carsen!”   
“Flynn? What have you done to Flynn?” Eve gasped now, making a move towards Nicole.  
“Oh please don’t hurt me, I’m just a poor weak, immortal Guardian!” Nicole bared her teeth and let out an evil laugh. “You all helped me in weakening your trust in the Library, in yourselves and each other. Two of your Librarian cubs have already left and the third one will too, once this miserable excuse of a knight finally dies! As for your beloved Flynn, let’s just say he is currently my guest, if he wants it or not and so will you. As soon as I get you out of here you will forget the Library, forget that it ever existed and then it will die together with your memory of it.” She turned around and went for the door “do you like my dress by the way?” She boldly turned to present herself “I saved that one for the special occasion of watching the world burn.” And with these words, she vanished through the door.  
“Oh no you won’t!” a determined Eve had now made her decision “I’m sorry Jenkins” she once more returned to the annex table and gripped the arm of the wounded man “I have to do this, I need to find her and I need to find Flynn. Cassandra will be back any moment and I meant what I said about you two going out on those syrupy dates!”   
He looked at her with tired eyes, tried to squeeze her hand “Go get her, Colonel, don’t let her succeed. If anyone can stop her, it is you. My Guardian.”   
When she heard those encouraging words, Eve bent down and gently kissed the caretaker’s cheek. “I promise Jenkins, I will bring them all back again!” was what she said before opening the door and disappeared through it.   
Only a few minutes later, Cassandra appeared in the annex again. “Eve? Is everything alright? Hello?” she called out tentatively.   
“Cassandra” Jenkins’ faint voice came back.   
“Jenkins! Oh my God, why did she leave you all alone here? What happened?” the young Librarian was appalled that her friend and Guardian would do such a thing. She felt Jenkins wanted to tell her something, so she sat next to him, took his hand and moved her face closer to his. “Tell me, love, what happened while I was gone?”   
“Nicole,” he whispered “she manipulated all of us, Eve went after her.”  
He had gotten weaker again. The effect of the healing oil was fading and even the shroud now had red spots where his wound had bled through. Cassandra felt faint at the sight of her steadfast knight, losing his strength so rapidly. She tried to be brave, but apart from a bit more healing oil and some healing salves, she hadn’t found anything that could permanently mend his wound. And now there was apparently an evil Nicole somewhere outside, trying to harm the Library and everyone in it. But what was she to do? Could she even help Eve if she went after them? She was the math girl, not the one who threw the punches or the mastermind against criminal forces. Apart from all these reasons, here was her beloved, who was injured and needed her. She would not leave him all alone. So she settled next to him, putting her head in the crook of his neck, at his healthy shoulder, gently whispering encouraging words and sweet nothings into his ear. Everything to keep him awake while she was still trying to come up with a solution.   
“You cannot stay here, Cassandra Cillian, you need to get up and find the others. They need you, they won’t make it on their own.” a female voice suddenly called out to her. The distressed Librarian first thought she had started imagining things, but when she glanced up, there was a reflection in the mirror. Cassandra got up to approach it and immediately recognized the former Guardian looking at her from the inside.  
“Charlene!” the young woman was very surprised “so Nicole was behind all this the whole time? I doubt I can be of any help to the others and even if I could, you cannot ask of me to leave Jenkins alone here.”   
“I am really sorry, Cassandra” the older woman was now talking to her in a calm, firm voice “I regret that we didn’t notice sooner what Nicole was up to, while she planned all of it. She wants to destroy the Library by destroying your belief in it. She has almost succeeded with Ezekiel and Jacob. Eve is looking for Flynn, who has been tricked too, so her determination will guide her for as long as it takes. But she can’t do it by herself. She needs someone with a stronger trust in the Library, someone who is anchored to the Library in a special way, through a bond that evil cannot cut just like that.”  
Cassandra suddenly understood “my love for Jenkins.”   
“Indeed. You cannot lose belief in the Library as long as you are still hoping for Jenkins to get well, you are still hoping for your future together.” Came the answer from out of the mirror.  
“But will I ever get my happy end?” the redhead looked at Jenkins again, who was lying pale and still on the table.   
Charlene too looked towards the table, where the man lay, who had hopelessly loved her for so long and who was now so fiercely loved by this young woman. “That depends on you, Cassandra Cillian. I cannot make any promises, but you won’t get it for sure by staying here. I will be present, I will watch over Galahad, talk to him, keep him from falling asleep and slipping away. It is the only thing I can do, unfortunately, but a promise I can make. When you return I will be waiting here and hopefully Galahad will still be alive until then. But that is another reason why you must hurry now, since unlimited time is a luxury he does not have.”  
“How do I even know you are the real Charlene and not another trick by Nicole?” a defiant Cass suddenly asked. Then she remembered the artifact she had seen on the table, The Eye of Ampyx, which always showed the truth. She held it up against the mirror and Charlene stood inside it, looking at her, unchanged. “I am truly sorry Charlene, but I had to be sure.”   
“You are a very smart and cautious Librarian” the first Guardian said with a smile “now you have to say your goodbyes and start your journey. Another thing: you must bring Nicole back to the Library, she is far too dangerous to be left out there, plotting against God knows who.”   
Her stomach tied itself into a knot as the Mathematician went back to the annex table. She looked down at Jenkins. His eyelids fluttered and some sweat drops were glistening on his forehead. Quickly Cassandra took one corner of the Shroud of Lazarus and wiped his face with it. The surprised man opened his eyes. Meanwhile, she had opened the little flask with Bathsheba’s Oil and let him drink the meagre amount of it. “Once I am back, we will need to make gallons of it!” she promised while trying to sound confident and convincing. Then she proceeded to unbutton his shirt and slowly peeled it from the wound. She heard his protesting hissing sounds, but while she hated to hurt him further, Cassandra simply apologized and explained she had to do it. Carefully she covered the cut with some of the Dragon-Bone healing salve she and Jenkins had made together. With the effect of the oil, so she hoped, this would make him keep on going until she returned.   
“You added mint and lavender, like suggested, my clever apprentice. It smells so much better.” Jenkins complimented, while smiling weakly at her.   
“I need to follow Eve and the others, find Nicole and stop her. Charlene will stay with you, keep you company. My hero, my knight, please hold on, be here waiting for me when I return” Cassandra pleaded. Tears were running down her cheeks. She felt dreadful leaving him in this state, but Charlene’s mirror image nodded encouragingly at her and urged her on. The young Librarian softly kissed face and hands of the love of her life for a couple more times, then she ran out of the door without looking back, before courage could desert her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading my ramblings.


End file.
